Here's the Telegraph article by Tom Morgan - Sports News Correspondent
More than half of top-tier English clubs are exploiting a Premiership Rugby loophole which allows them to potentially circumnavigate the salary-cap threshold, The Daily Telegraph understands.
Lord Myners, a City specialist overseeing a review of regulations following the Saracens scandal, will scrutinise a controversial clause allowing teams to write off wages by declaring “season-long” loans.
Critics claim the rule is open to manipulation as players can be recalled by clubs at no extra cost for minor competition matches so long as they are providing cover for an injured player. Players can then feature in the Premiership Rugby Cup or Shield without their salaries counting towards the cap. It appears clubs can face further costs over league appearances, however, initially on a “pro rata” basis.
Bath and Gloucester are known to be among a handful taking advantage of the chance to trim their declared salary-cap wage bill. The rule came to light when Zimbabwean lock, Mike Williams, and Argentine prop, Lucas Noguera, were loaned out separately by Bath to Yorkshire Carnegie in the Championship in September. Williams was immediately sent out on loan after signing for Bath, played for a matter of minutes off the bench in Carnegie’s 83-0 defeat at Nottingham, before returning to the West Country to feature in the Premiership.
Argentine loosehead Noguera was then sent out later the same month, coming off the bench for Carnegie in their 48-0 thrashing at the hands of Cornish Pirates, before returning to Bath the following Monday. Williams has since played five times for Bath, while Noguera has played just once, thanks, it would appear, to the clause set out in schedule one of the pay-cap regulations. Under the rule, loanees can replace long-term injured players so long as they are in broadly like-for-like positions. At Bath, back-row Taulupe Faletau and prop Nathan Catt are on the injury list.
Premiership Rugby salary cap loan loophole | Bath duo's loan appearances
September 20 2019:
Nottingham Rugby 83-0 Yorkshire Carnegie
Championship Cup
Yorkshire Carnegie XV: Tim Bitirim; Andrew Lawson, Lee Smith, James Robins, Tom Varndell; Dan Lancaster, James Elliott; James Flynn, Louis Musetti, Conor Davidson, Ed Bloodworth, Alex Humfrey, Will Hill, James Seabrook, Callum Bustin
Subs: Ben Sugars, Cole Wilson, Will Archer, MIKE WILLIAMS, Taylor Gough, Guy Graham, Joe Green, Joe Carlisle
September 28 2019
Yorkshire Carnegie 0-48 Cornish Pirates
Yorkshire Carnegie XV: Tim Bitirim, Ross Whitmore, Joe Carlisle, Dan Lancaster, Tom Varndell; Joe Ford, Joe Green; James Flynne, Ben Sowery, Conor Davidson., Jake Brady, Alex Humfrey, Trystan Lloyd, Henri Lavin, Guy Graham
Subs: Louis Musseti, LUCAS NOGUERA, Gareth Smith, Taylor Gough, James Seabrook, Will Findlay, James Robins, Lee Smith
*Both Williams and Noguera, on loan from Bath Rugby, came off the bench briefly for loan club Yorkshire Carnegie
In some cases, up to three players can also be declared as “loaned out” even if they remain at the club. Such arrangements at Gloucester drew criticism by Brendan Venter, the former director of rugby at disgraced Saracens, after he signalled he found it “really hard” to believe the £7million limit had not been breached “here and there” by other clubs.
When pressed for his thoughts on BBC podcast Rugby Union Weekly, Venter said centre Henry Trinder, winger Charlie Sharples and full-back Tom Hudson had all been declared as season-long loan players to ensure the club stayed within the cap.
“You just look at what happened at Gloucester,” said Venter. “Where these three young players, Trinder, Sharples and Hudson, who went on loan before the season starts for the whole year, to get them outside of the cap. So, how’s that possible? Somebody must have got the budgets unbelievably wrong. No one told the players and you go, ‘Is this legal or is this moral? Can you actually do that?’ A lot of these things, I think, were happening with injuries.”
Gloucester declined to comment on Venter’s claims, but are understood to be confident they operated fully transparently and within the laws. Trinder had suffered a torn Achilles tendon, while Sharples was recovering from surgery at the start of this season.
Bath also declined to comment on Monday night, but had previously claimed the loan deals were part of a “mutual long-standing relationship with Carnegie”.
A well-placed source defended the loan arrangement, saying several other clubs were also utilising the clause, and said the law was crucial to allow clubs without the riches of teams such as Saracens to ensure they have access to talent.
However, Venter suggested the rule was an example that Saracens were not the only team using the system to their advantage. “People do funny things when they are in trouble and in Saracens’ case, they are trying now to be whiter than white and say, ‘Look, we told them this is what we did’,” he added. “We lost and we accept that.”
There is no suggestion that the loophole said to be utilised by more than half the clubs in the English top flight is comparable to pay-cap breaches employed by Saracens, who have now accepted relegation after an investigation into business arrangements between outgoing chairman Nigel Wray and leading players, including Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje and the Vunipola brothers.
The Premiership and European champions accepted the punishment as they “unreservedly apologised” following the most damaging saga in English club rugby history.
Rival Premiership clubs demanded Saracens were punished for failing to reduce their wage bill this season, having already been hit by a 35-point penalty and a £5.4million fine for exceeding the cap in the past three, trophy-laden seasons.
The “loan” rule, meanwhile, is certain to be scrutinised, a source said, when Lord Myners of Truro, who has a track record for calling out poor financial regulation, launches his independent review. The investigation will significantly strengthen Premiership Rugby’s wider powers in time for the next campaign. According to the domestic league, all aspects of the salary-cap regulations will be strength-tested.
In relation to its current loans rule, a Premiership Rugby spokesman told The Daily Telegraph: “The provision for Premiership Rugby clubs to loan players is covered in the Salary Cap Regulations which are published on our website. Each club is allowed to nominate three players who can be loaned for the season and their salaries are then excluded from the salary cap. Those players can, however, play in the Premiership Rugby Cup or Shield without their salaries counting towards the cap.”
Always a Wasp
